Woolworths and Coles announce new bonus for shoppers bringing their own bags

Woolworths and Coles have come up with new plans to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags to the supermarket following the much-talked about single-use plastic bag ban.

Shoppers who bring in their own reusable bags when shopping at either supermarket chain will now be able to earn points from their respective customer rewards programs.

From Saturday, Woolworths customers will earn two Woolworths Rewards points for every shopping bag they bring with them to use in-store.

“We appreciate forming new habits is an adjustment for some of our customers and our recent complimentary bag offer was aimed at providing a little extra help during the transition,” Brad Banducci, Woolworths Group CEO, said.

Shoppers can now earn rewards points for bringing in their own bags. Source: Reuters

As of Friday, Coles shoppers will be rewarded with 30 FlyBuys when they swipe their card at the checkout.

While Woolworths said their rewards offer would be sticking around for the rest of the year, Coles shoppers will have to get in quick to make the most of the promotion before it closes on Tuesday, July 17.

Earlier this month, Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Gary Mortimer estimated the big retailers would rake in about $71 million from the plastic bag ban given the savings the supermarkets will make in not handing out single-use bags, combined with selling the reusable bags for 15c each.